Our 24th pool!

SMART FOUL BY ZAGS AND SMART REBOUNDING BY UNCDboyz17 takes lead and only Parched Fatness can dethone

SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA (smt)- #1W-Gonzaga had a 14-point second-half lead only to see #7E-South Carolina score 16 straight points in 3 1/2 minutes to lead by 2 with 7:06 left. The Zags then responded with a 7-0 run of their own in the next 3 1/2 minutes and then held on to a 77-73 win to advance to their first Final. Up by 3 with 13 seconds left and playing defense, the Zags did what every person always yells at the TV, FOUL to give two free throws instead of allowing a game-tying three. Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins did thisperfectly leaving just three seconds left (of course, USC helped by taking their time for the shot). As expected, South Carolina made the first, missed the second but couldn’t get the rebound and the Zags sealed the game with two free throws.

Trying to get the rebound off a missed free throw, however, was no problem for #1S-North Carolina. The Tar Heels were comfortable with a six-point lead with under a minute left only to see #3MW-Oregon cut it to one. UNC missed two free throws but they got the offensive rebound so Oregon fouled again. Incredibly, UNC missed both free throws again, and more incredibly, UNC got the offensive rebound again running out the final four seconds for a 77-76 victory to return to the final for the second consecutive year and 11th overall (5-5).

UNC BACK IN FINAL FOUR WHILE OTHER THREE TEAMS IT’S A NEW EXPERIENCE21 battle for 7 spots; More than $85 raised for GHTC

EL SEGUNDO, CA (smt)- North Carolina is making its record 20th appearance in the NCAA Final Four which is 18 more than the other three schools combined. Both Gonzaga and South Carolina are making their first Final Four appearance and Oregon is making its first since the very first year the NCAA tournament was held, 1939. Each team has had a close call while each team has had a double-digit win in the Regional semifinal or final. South Carolina and Gonzaga have had a pair of 20+ point wins while UNC has broken 90 points twice. South Carolina, a 7 seed is representing the strength of the SEC who have the most wins in the tournament while North Carolina is representing the last vestige of the powerful ACC which had 9 teams to start and are down to one.

Twenty-one entries still have a chance to finish in the top 7 money spots and we won’t know who the pool champion is unless Oregon and South Carolina win. After the semifinals, the Bonus scenarios will be listed for the total points in final tiebreaker.

Craig H (who didn’t participate in the main pool) was the only person to get all four First Four games correct (Mt. St. Mary’s, Kansas St, UC Davis, USC) to win the 7th HWCI NCAA First Four for Charity. With 16 entries I will donate $32 and since we got more than 161 entries (new record 178), I will donate another $25. Generous donations by Charles D, Bob S, and Jeff2 H has brought the total to $85.10 that I will donate to the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference as a Beginner Patron. More money could still trickle in and the donation will be made when registration opens in June. In total, the 7 years has raised $593.98.

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Tids & Bits – South Carolina has set a school record with 26 wins and won their first tourney game since ’73… This is the first time Read the rest of this entry »

ROSEMEAD, CA (smt)- The Carolinas are in. The battle of the SEC saw rivals #7E-South Carolina (the other USC) and #4E-Florida play for more than 14 minutes with neither side taking more than a 3-point lead (from 44-41 Florida to 65-63 South Carolina). But Maik Kotsar ended that with a jump shot to give the Gamecocks a four-point lead with 1:57 left. The last minute saw Florida still down by four but they had their chances as South Carolina missed four free throws but the only thing the Gators could come up with were two painful turnovers in losing 77-70. South Carolina joins #1W-Gonzaga in making their first Final Four and one of these teams will make their first Final as they will face off in the early game Saturday.

The battle of the blue bloods, part 2 (after #2S-Kentucky beat #3S-UCLA two days ago) proved to live up to its billing in the first part and the last ten minutes. #1S-North Carolina and Kentucky battled early with the Tar Heels holding on to a 34-30 lead with 4:30 left. But then the game turned out to be a slog to watch, one of the poorest performances for the tournament, as the middle 20 minutes (4:30 1st half to 9:30 2nd half) saw both teams grind out to a partly 19 points each (15 of those 38 points on free throws). Kentucky missed all six three-point attempts and made just 7 of 27 shots overall while committing two turnovers. UNC turned the ball over eight times and was just 2 of 8 from three-point range and made just 5 of 17 shots. Imagine taking just 17 shots in 20 minutes? Ugly.

But luckily for us, the teams turned it up sprinting to a 24-22 (Wildcat advantage) finish in the last 9:30. Kentucky got on track outscoring UNC 17-6 to take a 64-59 lead with under 5 minutes left. But then UNC went on a 12-0 run to take a 71-64 lead with 53 seconds left. After missing 8 straight three-pointers, the Wildcats hit 3 threes in the final minute (two in 8 seconds aided by an inbound 5-second violation and the last aided by UNC missing the front end of a 1-and-1), with Malik Monk somehow shooting over two defenders to tie the game at 73 with 8 seconds left. But instead of a timeout, Read the rest of this entry »